Healthcare 2020

To win in a shifting prot pool, companies need to improve

how healthcare is delivered
By George Eliades, Michael Retterath, Norbert Hueltenschmidt
and Karan Singh

George Eliades is a partner with Bain & Company based in San Francisco and
a leader in the rms Global Healthcare practice. Michael Retterath is a Bain
partner based in New York and a leader in the Global Healthcare practice.
Norbert Hueltenschmidt is a partner based in Zurich and the head of Bains
Global Healthcare practice. Karan Singh is a partner based in New Delhi and
head of Bains Asia-Pacic Healthcare practice.

Copyright 2012 Bain & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

Healthcare 2020

We have been talking about healthcare costs for more

than 40 years, but the worldwide financial crisis and
subsequent climate of austerity are finally catalyzing
change. Payers are searching for all available tools to
stunt the growth of a sector that has successfully resisted
cost containment for decades. Adding to the urgency
for action is an anticipated global surge in demand
precipitated by several factors: an aging population with
chronic care needs, population and income growth in
emerging markets and the potential for insurance
coverage expansion due to health reform in the US
and around the globe.

All of these disruptive changes will have two significant

implications for the global healthcare market:

An increase in demandeven one accompanied by cost

pressuresis generally good for companies supplying
products to the healthcare sector. But in this case, it is
concomitant with a precipitous decline in research and
development productivity for pharmaceutical and medical
technology companies, leading to a more than $100 billion
loss in product exclusivity by 2015.1 Despite ongoing
medical need across many diseases, these players can
no longer depend on their innovation engine and pricing
power to drive ongoing profit growth. The net result will
be an unprecedented decline in the share of the overall
healthcare profit pool captured by innovation-driven
companies in favor of lower-margin sectors like generic
manufacturers and providers.2

There will be radical changes in the relative size and

growth of the various parts of the global healthcare
profit pool. In the past, growth by sector has been
relatively consistent, but by 2020 and beyond, growth
rates across sectors and geographies will diverge.

The basis of competition in the marketplace will

change as well. Different therapeutic areas will be
affected in distinct ways by two significant trends:
growing consumer engagement and increasing
standardization of care (protocolization).3

How will you compete as global prot

pools shift?
Even though the global profit pool will expand over the
next 10 years, most players will need to develop new
business models to win. We believe the total profit pool
will grow at a compound adjusted growth rate (CAGR)
of 4%from $520 billion in 2010 to $740 billion in
2020but lag overall healthcare expenditure as profit4
ability declines in aggregate worldwide (see Figure 1).
Your business plans for the next decade will require a
deeper understanding of the sector and regional shifts
embedded in these global figures. For example, most
of the growth in the global profit pool will come from
increased volume in the delivery of care, while another
significant source of growth will come from smaller sectors like contract research or manufacturing and nutrition, which are experiencing significant growth from
a smaller base, particularly in the emerging markets.

We do not suggest that healthcare will be less innovative

over the coming decade, but rather that the focus of
innovation will shift from the product arena to healthcare
delivery. A demand surge in an environment of fiscal
constraint and slower product innovation will create a
climate that favors investment in new ways of delivering care, in part by applying the power of information
technologylong overdue in healthcare, relative to other
sectors. Indeed, the shift in emphasis from managing
inputs, like the rate of adoption of new products and the
number of physician visits, toward delivering outputs,
like patient satisfaction, clinical outcomes and overall
system savings, is already well underway.

Pharmaceutical companies will see low growth and some

decline in margins over the coming decade. Brand-name
pharmaceuticals will grow only 1%, and the market will
become increasingly fragmented, as the main source of
revenue growth will be smaller items like targeted oncology products.5 In the US the situation will be even worse,
as the forecasted 1% growth rate will depend on substantial growth in the second half of the decade, overcoming
patent expirations and pricing pressures. At the same
time, generics will grow by 7%, driven by those same patent expirations as well as increased volume in emerging
markets (and a few underpenetrated developed markets).

Going forward, the critical question for companies will

be how they can evolve their business model and thrive
in a world of shifting profit pools by focusing on delivering better outputs, rather than by simply generating
more inputsmore products, more procedures and
ultimately more cost to the payers.

Healthcare 2020

Figure 1: By 2020, the global prot pool is expected to shift in several ways
Global healthcare profit pool (2010)
Total=$520B

EBIT margin
30%

23
16
20

18
16

15

14
12

11
10
4

1
0
Pharma
Rx

Revenue
(2010, $B): 495

Hospital
Retail pharmacy
Distribution
CXO
IVD
Medtech
Pharma OTC
Pharma Gx
230 100

260

44

62

850

Other providers
Care
PBM
Insurance US
Insurance nonUS
HC IT
Nutrition

890 2,280 1,733

501

266

450

260

55

64

Global healthcare profit pool (2020)

EBIT margin

Total=$740B

30%

20

19
16 16 16
13

14

12

10
3

Hospital

Other providers

3,714

2,826

5%

5%

1
0
Pharma
Rx

Distribution Retail
pharmacy
CXO
IVD
Medtech
Pharma OTC
Pharma Gx

Revenue
(2020, $B): 665 497 148 385 79 144 1,258 1,317
CAGR
(1020):

3%

7%

4%

4%

6%

9%

4%

4%

Care
PBM
Insurance US
Insurance nonUS
HC IT
Nutrition

Note: Insurance US reflects total health plan premiums; CXO represents contract research, manufacturing and sales organizations
Sources: IMS; Datamonitor; Business Insights; Freedonia; annual reports; analyst reports; CMS; OECD; Bain analysis

897 324

733 466 143 115

6%

5%

2%

5% 10% 6%

Healthcare 2020

generic products, but weak medical insurance and gaps

in delivery capability in rural areas will remain challenges for these economies.

Global medical technology products will grow 3%, but

with lower profit margins due primarily to worldwide
pricing pressure. The slowdown will come mainly from
peak penetration of products, such as stents, in developed markets and competition everywhere from good
enough products. In China there is already fierce competition from locally produced stents, and this pricing
pressure will continue as the Chinese and others develop
cheaper alternatives.6

Chinas healthcare profit pool will grow from about

$22 billion in 2010 to $113 billion in 2020, a CAGR of
18%, 9 suggesting appealing opportunities for new
investments, but hospitals and other providers will drive
40% of that growth (see Figure 2).10 Those providers
will benefit from an aging population and a rising
middle class, and there are also some signs of government policies that are favorable to private investment
in the sector. Pharmaceutical and medical technology
companies will continue to realize attractive earnings
before interest and tax (EBIT), but brand, generic and
over-the-counter products will shrink by one percentage
point because of government-enforced price cuts and
the increasing purchasing power of distributors.

New healthcare value chain players will expand the

overall profit pool to some degree. While margins in
almost every other sector will slow, the growth in these
sectors will be dramatic. Contract research, manufacturing and sales companies and healthcare IT companies
will see significant volume growth as pharmaceutical
companies outsource more functions and the demand
for data accelerates.7 Contract research organizations
will expand through greater use of strategic alliances
and risk-sharing arrangements with pharmaceutical
companies. Contract manufacturing organizations will
see 8% CAGR, in part due to their expansion into China
and India.

Likewise, in India, the delivery of care and pharmaceutical sales will make up most of the fragmented
$65 billion market.11

Disruptive changes will alter the basis of competition, creating new opportunities to redene
business models and enter new markets

Because of the uncertainty of health reform in the US,

payers are not likely to experience the growth they have
experienced in the past. Even if there is more insurance
coverage, there will be lower margins because of pressure on premiums. In fact, the traditional business
model of US health insurers is increasingly coming
into question with the rise of accountable care organizations (ACOs). The net result is that the expansion in
worldwide insurance coverage will come largely from
emerging markets, with growth in Europe remaining
fairly stagnant.

The sheer size of emerging markets makes them attractive offsets to more stagnant growth in other regions of
the world. But to be successful, companies will need new
business models to take advantage of the opportunities
there (see Figure 3). Profit pool shifts and the lack of
access to healthcare in many countries, for example,
may spur some pharmaceutical and medical technology
companies to meet the challenge by opening clinics
in the developing world, or even entering the private
insurance market.

Providers of care worldwide will see the largest volume

gains, but not necessarily any increase in their overall
margins. These volume increases will drive 30% of the
overall profit pool growth (about $70 billion), but profitability will be flat or will decline. In fact, the overall
profitability of healthcare players is expected to decrease
by about 1% by 2020.8

In the developed world, providers and payers are already

entering the device or drug market. Companies like
Fresenius Medical Care, which started out producing
dialysis machines, have emerged to own an entire
segment of carevertically integrated with machines,
clinics and drugs. With global government spending
estimated at about $50 billion for dialysis products and
services, but with shrinking reimbursement per treatment, the vertically integrated model may be an effective
path to capture a very specific part of the profit pool.12

The slower growth in US and European markets will be

offset to some degree by expansion in emerging markets
like China and India, specifically for generic drug
products. Rapid economic growth and the rise of chronic
diseases will produce substantial gains for price-sensitive

Healthcare 2020

Figure 2: Hospitals and other providers account for about 40% of Chinas prot pool growth
China healthcare profit pool growth 20102020 (USD)
$125B
1

113

CAGR
(1020)

13
100

40% of profit
pool growth

6
6
17

75
9
50

25

17.6%

28

22

0
2010

Hospital

Other
providers

Pharma
Gx

Pharma
OTC

Medtech Distribution

Pharma
Rx

Retail
pharmacy

CXO

Insurance

2020

Note: OTC includes ~60% health nutrition; other providers include outpatient services, clinics and specialist services such as obstetrics and pediatrics
Sources: IMS; BMI; Espicom; annual reports; analyst reports; China Health Yearbook; National Bureau of Statistics of China; Bain analysis

Figure 3: Industry changes will create opportunities to redene business models and enter new markets

Global markets
Profit pool
driver

Implications
and
opportunities

Consumerdriven demand

Codevelopment with consumers

Home healthcare and telehealthcare
Patient journey treatment experience
Personal care platforms
Nutrition and wellness solutions
Personalized devices

Individual engagement
and experience

Professionalization of care

Own disease protocols

Sell outcomes
Integrated care (Rx, Dx, home, etc.)
Risksharing with Rx, Dx, device,
providers, payers, employers
Value solutions

Healthcare population solutions

Source: Bain & Company, Inc.

Healthcare 2020

counterparts, but there is little doubt about the

direction of this change. No longer will the individual physician be the lone decision maker. The
cottage industry of medical care is being industrialized, as payers and providers increasingly align
their businessesand resultswhich may be
threatening to some, but may well produce better
care at lower cost.

While the specificities differ by market, the overall

trend is that companies are seeking incremental growth
in new profit pools that tie to disease knowledge or
market know-how.
On what basis will you compete? If you can no longer
depend only on increased volume or control pricing,
where can you most profitably operate in the newly
configured global market? This is where the acceleration
of twin trendsconsumer-driven demand and standardized and protocolized carecomes into play. These
two trends are powerful and have the capacity to facilitate the shift to outputs over inputs, stimulating new
opportunities for profitable growth, if you can adapt
your business model.

Protocolization and consumerism will not

affect all therapeutic areas equally
There are at least four landscapes where healthcare
companies will have to make strategic decisions in
order to survive and win (see Figure 4).15

With more information about treatments available

to an increasing number of consumers or patients
around the globe, every company with a product to
sell must understand how best to engage with consumers, in a way that speaks to their individual
needs and patient experience. Search engines have
produced a vast engaged patient population we
could not have imagined even 10 years ago: 80%
of Internet users now search for health information
online, and more than half look for specific information about a medical treatment or disease. 13
The demand for more engagement is not limited
only to the US and Europe. Mobile phones and
Internet access are now available in most emerging
economies. While there will continue to be cultural
differences in the way consumers engage with their
care, the degree of engagement itself will only intensify globally. More than one-third of Indians, for
example, currently use the Internet to search for
health information, with similar percentages of
younger, more educated people seeking health
information online in Brazil, Mexico and China.14

On one axis of Figure 4, we included the conditions and

diseases for which consumer engagement will be the
main market driver; on the other, we have shown the
degree to which standard protocol will guide treatment
decisions. In some areas of treatment, both consumer
engagement and protocolization will be in play, leading to an opportunity for patient-provider teaming.
Both of these trends translate into reduced autonomy
and decision-making control for physicians for established conditions.
Where there is a high degree of consumer engagement
but low protocolization, the patient experience will
impact the outcomes most strongly. Such treatment
options are often cash-based or lifestyle therapies, like
breast implants or erectile dysfunction. Brands will
initially rule for these types of procedures because of
their familiarity and marketing clout, but prices may be
forced down over time as the experience curve is applied
to these markets. The degree of protocolization for
these therapies will start out weak, but will increase
with competition, especially for treating conditions
like infertility, where buyers perceive proprietary protocols to be an advantage.

Along with the trend toward increased consumer

engagement is an increasing professionalization of
medical care processes. We call this trend protocolization because physicians and other providers
are accepting and using more standardized protocols and guidelines for treating their patients. US
providers have been somewhat slower to embrace
clinical protocols than their European or Asian

The more routine, protocol-driven therapies, such as for

conditions like hypertension or procedures for knee or
hip replacement, involve processes of care that are
generally well accepted, but result in less physician
discretion and patient choice. Manufacturers of products
for these conditions will need to have good data to
accurately price their products and ensure that they are

Healthcare 2020

Figure 4: Trends affect disease states and procedures differently, creating distinct market dynamics
Consumer driven

Patient and provider teaming

Breast cancer

Infertility
Breast implants
(aesthetics)
Erectile
dysfunction

Contraception

MS

Gastric band

Depression
Patient
engagement

T2 Diabetes

HIV

RA

Asthma

Migraine

T1 Diabetes

Asthma

Osteoporosis
Lupus

ADHD

ICD/Pacemaker
Schizophrenia

Knee/Hip
replacement

Hernia

Alzheimers
Hypertension Dialysis

Physician driven

Liver Stents
cancer

Pharma
Protocol driven

Medtech

Protocolization
Note: We determined the placement of diseases or conditions in this figure by assessing the number of protocols available, adjusted for prevalence and total spending on that condition.
For consumerization, we measured online presence and also adjusted for prevalence
Sources: International Guideline Library; National Guideline Clearinghouse data; National Health Service (UK); Medtech Insight; Bain analysis

included in any protocols being developed to guide

treatment. Whatever patient marketing exists for these
types of conditions will largely focus on adherence because
care management, not just the specific product, results
in better outcomes.

growth in those types of markets. Therapies for migraines

or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), for
example, have fewer accepted protocols, and thus payers
will continue to struggle to control utilization beyond
mere cost shifting. New physician-driven therapies will,
of course, continue to emerge, but the overall trend is
clearly away from full physician control as markets
mature and consumers become more involved in their
own healthcare.

Where there is a high degree of consumer engagement

along with a high degree of protocolization for diseases
like breast cancer or Type 1 diabetes, manufacturers
will need to be sure that they shape the protocols being
used and target their marketing to those preferred therapeutic options. The teaming between providers and
patients will be a significant challenge for payers and
manufacturers. In the area of breast cancer alone, the
existence of multiple effective patient advocacy organizations will inform patients of their options, and they
in turn will put pressure on doctors to find the optimal
treatment regimen. Payers will attempt to control the protocol development in this area in order to control costs.

Over time, more diseases will move up and to the righthand side of Figure 4. Protocolization and consumerism
will increase, and payers will demand and use better
data about outcomes. Although these changes will not
guarantee increased revenue, good outcomes should
result in a better share of the profit pool for players that
can shape the protocol development by demonstrating
how their products create value.

Where can you playand winby 2020?

The physician-driven quadrant, with its lower degree of

consumer engagement and protocolization, is a business as usual state, and there is unlikely to be significant

Only transformational business models will enable future

winners to capitalize on the disruptive market changes

Healthcare 2020

at play (see Figure 5). The models identified in Figure 5

are very different from the business models being discussed in boardrooms today. Becoming a consumer
marketing powerhouse, a disease population manager
or a successful integrated care company will require
different organizational capabilities. For example, for
treatments and conditions where the degree of consumer
demand is high, like health and wellness programs, or
for treatments with high brand recognition, a consumer
powerhouse approach can help produce differential
growth and market share. For conditions with a high
degree of protocolization like hypertension, a population-manager approach may be the answer. The most
challenging model of all will be to create integrated
care solutions that manage the full suite of products
and services across the patient journey. This approach
will require deep expertise in patient-centered care and
the tools that support that care, such as real-time feedback, secure communication and digital technology to
enhance patient participation.

For businesses in the more traditional, physiciandominated quadrants of Figure 4, winners will
build the capabilities to deliver risk-sharing models,
potentially partnering with payers and providers
or even directly becoming more involved in the
delivery of care.

If you are operating in the top right-hand quadrant

of Figure 4, patient-provider teaming, then you may
need to partner or develop capabilities in data
sharing and coordination to wrap around the
patient and manage a population for a payer or
provider organization.

If you operate more in the consumer world, you may

need to move beyond branding the product and
start branding the procedure by forming alliances
with certified providers that can perform the procedure or provide medication, such as exclusive,
branded and certified botulinum toxin clinics.

These new approaches require a fresh look across the

profit pool for each condition. Here are a few examples
to think about:

Figure 5: Transformational models hope to capitalize on expected market changes

Profit pool driver
Consumerdriven
demand

Professional
ization of care

Consumer
marketing
powerhouse





Description

Model

Consumerdriven health and wellness programs

Products for full economic spectrum
Consumer engagement to drive brand awareness and loyalty
Innovation oriented to consumer wants (beyond medical needs)
Global consumer insight and brandbuilding skills

Disease
population
manager

Focus on managing disease in populations

Facilitate access, compliance, outcomes, systems cost reduction
Partner as necessary to influence stakeholders across the continuum of care
Leader in science, protocols, global care norms
Epidemiology, policy, education, behaviors, actuarial

Integrated
care
company

Integrated care management throughout the patient journey

Closed system to facilitate the full physician and patient experience
Full suite of products and services to deliver all aspects of the patient journey
Deep expertise in patientcentric experiences and tools
Patient insight, selfdirected disease management tools, social networks
Secure communication, compliance 2.0, realtime feedback, etc.
Ability to link patient experiences to outcomes
Clinical and actuarial data, risk management tools

Source: Bain & Company, Inc.

Healthcare 2020

ways to reduce cost and demonstrate improved quality. For providers, it will be a choice of joining the
rush to become an integrated care company or trying
to find room to be a branded provider of choice.

Where the various components of the profit pool

have created silos, with products and patients being
passed around among them, the trend toward protocolization and consumerization will break down
barriers and create a more integrated approach for
a given medical condition or procedure. Firms like
Fresenius and DaVita are already doing this, and other
healthcare companies will either participate in this
trend or risk becoming mere commodity suppliers.

For a select few, the old models could workbreakthrough innovation will still drive profitable growth,
but few, if any, have proven the ability to sustain this
over time. Cost pressures will force nearly every company
in the industry to rethink how and where it will grow
moving forward. Good strategic choices will still yield
growth. A profit pool that is growing at a breakneck
pace will no longer shelter poor choices. Executives
and investors can and must know where the profit
pools are shiftingand how they will change course
to successfully compete.

The industrys metrics will need to change. Using

annual budgets and per person savings will not reflect
value adequately for either private or government
payers. Can payers stay involved for long-term gain
when paying for chronic diseases? Public payers
may not be able to resist the pressures to simply
reduce their costs. Private payers will need to identify

IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, The Global Use of Medicines: Outlook Through 2015, May 2011.

The methodology Bain used for developing this profit pool analysis is based on detailed health sector revenue and EBIT margin analysis for US and global sectors. The sector revenues
are based and triangulated on latest market reports; the sector margins are based on company annual reports; the 2010-2020 CAGRs are based on market reports, where available, and
Bain estimates; and the margin changes from 2010 to 2020 are based on proprietary Bain analysis.

The term protocolization refers to the application of proven standards of care and consistent protocols and guidelines to reduce variation in the delivery of healthcare.

Sources: Bain analysis, IMS, Datamonitor, Business Insights, Freedonia, annual reports, analyst reports, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), OECD

Sources: Datamonitor; based on top 50 branded pharma companies

Sources: Business Insights, Datamonitor, analyst reports, Bain analysis

Sources: Business Insights, Datamonitor, Parexel, analyst reports, Bain analysis

Sources: IMS, Datamonitor, Business Insights, Freedonia, annual reports, analyst reports, CMS, OECD, Bain analysis

Sources: IMS, BMI, Espicom, annual reports, analyst reports, China Health Yearbook, National Bureau of Statistics of China, Bain analysis

10

Sources: IMS, BMI, Espicom, annual reports, analyst reports, China Health Yearbook, National Bureau of Statistics of China, Bain analysis

11

Source: Bain analysis

12

Fresenius Medical Care, Forward Looking Statements, 2009, p.31.

13

Susannah Fox, Pew Research Centers Internet & American Life Project Health Topics, February 1, 2011, http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/HealthTopics.aspx.

14

Indians Increasingly Use Internet for Their Healthcare Needs, Express Healthcare, http://www.expresshealthcare.in/201201/theyearthatwas201152.shtml.

15

Sources: International Guideline Library, National Guideline Clearinghouse data, National Health Service in UK, Medtech Insight and proprietary Bain analysis
The methodology for determining the degree of consumer engagement and protocolization in Figure 4 was developed by collecting all the protocols on each disease from a variety
of sources, scoring the current level of protocolization on a scale of one to 10 and then adjusting for prevalence and total spending on the disease. For consumerism, we monitored
the presence of topics for each disease on a variety of patient websites and corrected for prevalence.

Shared Ambit ion, True Results

Bain & Company is the management consulting rm that the worlds business leaders come
to when they want results.
Bain advises clients on strategy, operations, technology, organization, private equity and mergers and acquisitions.
We develop practical, customized insights that clients act on and transfer skills that make change stick. Founded
in 1973, Bain has 48 ofces in 31 countries, and our deep expertise and client roster cross every industry and
economic sector. Our clients have outperformed the stock market 4 to 1.

What sets us apart

We believe a consulting rm should be more than an adviser. So we put ourselves in our clients shoes, selling
outcomes, not projects. We align our incentives with our clients by linking our fees to their results and collaborate
to unlock the full potential of their business. Our Results Delivery process builds our clients capabilities, and
our True North values mean we do the right thing for our clients, people and communitiesalways.

For more information, visit www.bain.com